The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald capsized in a severe early winter storm in Lake Superior in November 1975. All 29 crew members were all lost. (“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” is the title of a song about the sinking by Gordon Lightfoot.)

News You Can Use

Rough seas certainly contributed to the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Conditions in Lake Superior often generate a group of three rogue waves.

Called “the three sisters,” each wave hits the ship before water from the previous wave drains off. By the third wave in a storm, a dangerous amount of water is on the ship.

The captain of a nearby ship said that rogue waves were headed in the direction of the Edmund Fitzgerald just before the ship sank.